Food Journey in Korea

Written by Jennifer Doherty

Many travellers to Korea will tell you that the best thing about their trip was the food diversity and food experiences they enjoyed whilst travelling in Korea. From Korean royal cuisine to the very popular street food and special food themed streets Korea offers an endless array of food experiences.

Korea Tourism Organization have produced a 'Must Eats in Korea' guide to assist food lovers to experience the very best of Korean cuisine. The guide includes the best local street food, a food map of Korea, where to eat royal cuisine and Buddhist temple food, and a list of food themed streets around the country.

Korea's street food offers a wide choice of cheap eats like Tteokbokki, bite sized rice cake stir fried in a thick spicy stew often with vegetables, eggs, spring onions. Gimbap is a Korean style rice and seaweed roll and Hotteok is a delicious Korean-style pancake that has nuts and seeds mixed in the dough and then stuffed with vegetables and glass noodles and deep fried.

Bungeo-ppang is Korean bread made by mixing red bean paste in flour batter and baking the mixture in a fish-shaped mould with various fillings that make a hot treat on a cold winter day. Sundae is Korean sausage made by stuffing pig's intestines with ox blood, glass noodles and vegetables and steaming them and serving the bite sized pieces with a dipping sauce.

In Korea there are specialty restaurants offering just one Korean dish from Bulgogi (BBQ) restaurants to Galbi (beef ribs) to Samgyetang (stuffed whole baby chicken simmered in broth for many hours) to the very popular Bibimbap (mixed rice, vegetables and beef topped with a fried egg) that is the number one dish in Korea with visitors.

Then there are the Korean fried chicken (Chimaek) restaurants serving spicy fried chicken washed down with a cool Korean beer. Korean pancake or (Bindaetteok) is a flat pancake made with mung bean sprouts and fried in a hot pan. These are also made with seafood (Haemul Pajeon) and Koreans love to eat these on a rainy day.

Royal cuisine is a special treat in Korea and must be experienced at least once. There are ten recommended top royal cuisine restaurants in the guide. In Korea, royal cuisine refers to the royal dishes of the Joseon Dynasty era when the culinary culture of Korea reached its peak around 600 years ago.

Food themed streets abound in Korea where you can go to experience so many delicious and unique delicacies. In Seoul Sindang-dong is known as Tteokbokki street where you can enjoy the famous rice cake stew, Spicy Chicken (Dakgalbi) street is in Chuncheon, Chodang Tofu street is in Gangneung, Dokcheon Octopus street in Yeongam, Raw fish street (Milak-dong Hoe) is in Busan and Snow Crab street on the east coast in Yeongdeok.

If you are an adventurous food lover you will find the wide diversity of Korean food one of the best reasons to visit Korea. Travelling around the country you can enjoy a wide range of regional dishes helping to create many special food memories of your visit to Korea.

To make your own food journey in Korea obtain the free 'Must Eats in Korea' guide to help plan your endless Korean feasting whilst travelling in Korea. Request your free copy of the guide by email: visitkorea@knto.org.au or obtain more information online at www.visitkorea.org.au